Lophophora breeding Information: breeding, hybrids, crosses etc.

Breeding Lophophora species and varieties is a fun hobby! Here are some of our own results with breeding Lophophora sp. It is important to note that all information on this page is only from our own experiments, there is nothing else to back up the info here. We try different Lophophora crosses, and post them here. Lophophora williamsii and Lophophora diffusa may not cross for us, but thatˇs not to say its impossible, just we have had no success....for example.

Thoughts

Whenever there is a cross done, with any species, there will always be an area of doubt; especially when you are dealing with species known to be able to fertilize themselves, such as Lophophora williamsii. Lophophora williamsii being self-fertile, meaning it can fertilize itself without another plant, means one can never be sure if the plant you took pollen from fertilized the mother plant, or if the mother plant fertilized itself. When it comes to cross species, or even more rarely accomplished crossing genera, it can be hard to tell if the plant fertilized itself or took the other donors pollen. It can be a little easier with self-sterile species, such as Lophophora diffusa, fricii and koehresii, but even then there is an area of doubt.

Ultimately what most of us have to do is grow the seeds out and see how they appear. There should be at least some of the fathers features in the new plants, if not, it is likely the mother fertilized herself. Keep this in mind when trying your own crosses or reading about others' crosses, like these here.

Lophophora breeding compatibility chart

This table is setup with the 6 most commonly seen "varieties". The row on the very top are plants I used as the MOTHERS. This means I used pollen from other plants to pollinate these plants (they will produce the seeds).

The plants in the LEFT column I used as the FATHERS, meaning I took the pollen from these plants to pollinate the plants on the top row.

There are 4 options:

Yes means the cross worked successfully and produced viable seed. Whether or not the plants are fertile themselves, only time will tell.

No means the cross did not produce any viable seed.

Self-fertile means a single plant can fertilize itself, with its own pollen, and produce viable seed.

Self-sterile means one plant, or clones of the same plant, cannot fertilize itself with its own pollen and produce viable seed. These plants require 2 separate plants (not clones) to produce viable seed. 2 plants from the same mother and father should be able to cross together, as every seed is slightly different as it has genes from both mother AND father.

Mother plants--> \/Father plants\/	diffusa	fricii	jourdaniana	koehresii	williamsii
L. diffusa	Self-sterile	Yes: 0 No: 7	unknown	Yes: 0 No: 4	Yes: 0 No: 7
L. fricii	Yes: 0 No: 11	Self-sterile	Unknown	Yes: 19 No: 0	Yes: 0 No: 3
L. jourdaniana	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
L. koehresii	Yes: 0 No: 4	Yes: 0 No: 18	Unknown	Self-sterile	Yes: 0 No: 15
L. williamsii	Yes: 0 No: 3	Yes: 1 [1] No: 13	Unknown	Yes: 0 No: 29	Self-fertile
Obregonia denegrii	Yes: 4 No: 9			Yes: 0 No: 1

Lophophora crosses and hybrids Notes.

First name is *female* (seed bearer), second name is *male* (pollen donor). Example: female x male

Lophophora diffusa x Lophophora diffusa: Lophopra diffusa is a self-sterile specie. This means if you breed one plant with itself (use its own pollen to pollinate itself), no fruit or seeds will be produced. This is also true for clones. For example, if you take a cutting from one plant and try and breed the cutting back to the parent plant, no fruit or seeds will be produced. You must have 2 plants that are not of the same genes. That said, if you have 2 plants from the same fruit/seed batch (same mother and father) they will be able to breed together because although they are related, their genes are different as they are a mix of 2 parent plants. Inbreeding with plants is not much different than with animals, the resulting babies will be less diversified and often genetically weaker. [View photos Plant | Flower | Fruit]

Lophophora diffusa x Lophophora fricii: No successful attempts at this time.

Lophophora diffusa x Lophophora koehresii: No successful attempts at this time.

Lophophora diffusa x Lophophora williamsii: No successful attempts at this time.

Lophophora diffusa x Obregonia denegrii : This cross works relatively readily. It does not seem to work the other way around using Obregonia as the seed bearer though. The seeds produced by the L. diffusa from the Obregonia pollen do germinate but seem weak. Time will tell if the resulting plants are actual hybrids or simply tricked self seeds.

Lophophora fricii x Lophophora diffusa: No successful attempts at this time.

Lophophora fricii x Lophophora fricii: Lophophora fricii is another self-sterile plant. There must be 2 plants (not clones). Lophophora fricci is a fairly free flowering species and generally flowers when the weather is good.[View photos Plant | Flower | Fruit]

Lophophora fricii x Lophophora koehresii: No successful attempts at this time. Although with L. koehresii being the mother and using L. fricii pollen, seeds seem relatively easy.

Lophophora fricii x Lophophora williamsii: [1] We have gotten 1 fruit from a L. fricii x L. williamsii. The fruit on the L. fricii fruit only had 5 seeds (VERY few for that plant which has always had 30+ seed per fruit). 1 sprouted and was grafted to Pereskiopsis.

Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora diffusa: No successful attempts at this time.

Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora fricii: This cross has proven to be relatively easy to accomplish. Every time we use L. fricii pollen to pollinate L. koehresii flowers, the L. koehresii produces viable seeds. For more information see here: Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora fricii Hybrids

Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora koehresii: Like Lophophora diffusa and L. fricii, Lophophora koehresii is apparently self-sterile. We have not seen any form our own, or heard of anyone else getting any seeds from self pollination. 2 plants that are not clones are required.

Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora williamsii: No successful attempts at this time.

(Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora fricii) x Lophophora koehresii: They readily cross and produce viable seed each way.

Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora diffusa: No successful attempts at this time.

Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora fricii: No successful attempts at this time.

Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora koehresii: No successful attempts at this time.

Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora williamsii: Lophophora williamsii is self-fertile, in fact it appears to be the only self fertile variety aside from perhaps Lophophora decipiens and *possibly* Lophophora jourdaniana. When self-fertilized, Lophophora williamsii will often not produce many seeds. Self-fertilized Lophophora williamsii often produce 0-10 seeds per fruit, generally larger and older plants having more. When crossed with another plant, Lophophora williamsii will produce usually 10-25 seeds, 30+ not unheard of. In general, the bigger and older the plant, when crossed, produce the biggest seed yields. [View photos Plant | Flower | Fruit]

Lophophora Hybrids.

Lophophora diffusa x Obregonia denegrii Hybrids

Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora fricii Hybrids

Related Pages [Pollinating Cacti | Cacti Flower Anatomy | Lophophora Identification]